I'm trying to decide between getting a T42 or T43 and having it solely as my pentesting machine. I've searched for comparisons, but they are very small differences in my opinion, so maybe someone can be insightful into one of these classics..

I had a T42 with the last company I consulted with and it was fine, slow, but it had XP and I didn't get to do a fresh install, plus I'd be running linux on this machine, most likely through USB 2.0, since I find it to load distros faster than the HD.

So what's out there.. I can pretty much get either for between $120 and $200 (give or take this and that) on ebay..

Differences I've found are that the T42 use DDR vs DDR2 on the T43, but they both max out at 2GB. Processor wise, they both range from 1.6 to 2.0Ghz. I know the T42 uses a different chipset and video card I believe.

T42, less noisy and hot and a bit longer battery life (which when I had seemed like 3hrs max.. but this could have been the battery and XP).

Everything else is mostly identical, if anyone has had a chance to compare both or heard of which is better to run srictly on a linux distro etc.. Please help me decide.. I could probably find the T42 for lets say $50 less than a T43.. I just need a machine strictly for my tools of the trade. Thanks!

While not much help, I've got a T60 with some special upgrades. (upped the memory to 4gig and replaced the processor to have VT for virtuals under xen).

Biggest things to look for. Which has more usb ports? What wireless cards? Can they do packet injection / monitor mode? Which can you get a new longer lasting battery for (6 to 9 hours on mine rocks).

Personally, I'd buy what I could find with 2gig of memory, and the 2.0 processor. If it was the cheaper option, I'd then use the left over money to buy an ALFA usb wireless card, a usb drive, and screen privacy guard. Anything left over bank for books or certs.

I'd also install BT4 to the box, if that's your attack distro of choice. I'd only run the distro from the USB drive if you're doing multi-purpose with the box. Installing a day to day distro for report writing after you've popped things with the attack distro.

Thanks for the great reply chrisj! Now you really got me thinking, lol I didn't think it would be this hard. I've thrown the T60 into the mix and there's a few out there that are at about the same price range...

T60 has an extra USB port so 3, CoreDuo processor and ability to add upto 4GB RAM... I've read a few reviews that the graphics card and or display looks much nicer on the T43 or 42... I was just looking for an extra laptop at first, now I don't even know what to do...

My T60 still has the ibm logo on it. (typing on it now). I bought it in 2007 when CompUSA was going out of business. It was my day to day box for 3 years. Held up fine. Like I said, upgraded the memory to 4 gigs. Changed out the default processor for VT technology. But not using Xen, but happy with my upgrade. And had to replace the battery after it died (which prevented the laptop from booting unless I pulled the battery out). Oh and upgraded the harddrive to 360gig.

If you've gone that far, you might as well look for a 64bit option too.

With the T60, get an external wireless card (the alfa is what I use with this thing).

As for what I run on this:Linux - Debian TestingVirtual Box - BT4, Fedora 12, WinXP SP3, WinXP SP2.BT3 from live cd wasn't that bad either.

I do hate the shared video memory sometimes, but not enough to do something about it.

Last edited by rattis on Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.